Tag Archives: land of israel

King Hezekiah and King Menashe of Judea – the archaeology

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If you’ve been following my podcasts recently you might know that I’ve been talking mainly about King Hezekiah and his son Menashe of Judah. Hezekiah lived around the same time as the Assyrian Emperor Sennacharib 705-681 BCE. There is a clay prism in the British Museum which chronicles Sennacharib’s life. It mentions Hezekiah too. It describes Sennacharib’s conquest of Judea and siege of Jerusalem.

(If you are looking for the podcasts scroll to the bottom of the page)

The Taylor Prism viewable in the British Museum

The British Museum used to have a complete transcript available online. It got removed, I will update this page with any further resources.

In addition to the Prism there is also a display  in the British Museum of a wall frieze of the  siege of Lachish, a town in the foothills of Judea. This siege is both mentioned on the Prism depicted above and the Bible, namely in the book of Kings (II Kings 18) and Chronicles (II Chronicles 32).

The Frieze includes:

A depiction of Sennacharib sitting on his throne at the gates to the city:

Source : Wikimedia Author : User:oncenawhile

Depictions of the battle:

Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)

And, as mentioned in the podcast the capture and punishment of enemies, possibly a cruxifiction, possibly a flaying, what do you think?

Source: Wikimedia Author: Zunkir

Fairly recently an archaeologist called Eilat Mazar found an official Bullae or clay stamp of Hezekiah in an archaeological park called the City of David. I have also sketched my observation of the stamp. Note that the lettering is “Proto – Canaanite script and the “logo” of Hezekiah is a sun with wings and an Ankh.

If you listen to the podcasts posted at the bottom you will hear that this is part of the evidence confirming both Hezekiah (podcast 8) and Menashe (Podcast 9) as historical actors.

Source: Wikimedia Author: Rubén Betanzo S.

“Artist”‘s impression of Hezekiah’s official stamp

Similar “logos” were found on numerous jug handles from the same era possibly for the collection of money or produce for the King, in fact “for the King” was written on many such handles.

More stylised sun with wings logo common to the jug handles.
Author: Hanay
Source: Wikimedia

In addition to this we have a 533m long tunnel outside the Old City of Jerusalem amongst other building projects that as you will hear in podcast 8 Hezekiah and later Menashe (Podcast 9) build structures that include the tunnel depicted below.

IMG_1056

On Tour at Hezekiah’s tunnel, City of David

Podcast 8 : Hezekiah

Podcast 9 : Menashe

As of March 25th 2020 I have been furloughed from all tourism related work, due to COVID-19 all tourist flights have stopped.

If you want to help: please share this article.

In order to produce more articles and podcasts I need to pay bills, contributions will be happily recieved by clicking on the coffee mug below.

Building the Temple – a work in progress

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A work in Progress

A visit to the Roman Engineering exhibit at the Davidson Center

It is believed that the Herodion Temple Mount took much longer to build than Herod actually lived for. Consider how long it must have took to even build the machinery and work out the engineering to build the entire massive structure.

The Temple Mount had 140,000 square meters surface area. The Western Wall is 488 meters in length alone. The largest stone is well over 280 tonnes (some say 570 tonnes). According to the Christian Scripture it took more than 46 years to build (John 2:20).

It is highly likely that , not unlike this blog, there were many starts and stops!

Stay tuned for more interesting and entertaining blogs, podcasts and videos!

 

Podcast Episode One: Right From The Start: Abraham (Metchilah)

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Welcome to my first podcast in the series: “The History of Judaism”. I shall be telling the History and story of the Jews from an educated Jewish Perspective. the first podcast focuses on Abraham and my decision to place this as the start of my narrative about Jewish History.

Here is a Map of Abraham’s Journeys:

Abaraham's Journey

 

Next time: A Journey to the Other Side: Abraham’s historical narrative

(The music in this podcast is “By Way of Haran” by Pharoah’s Daughter recreated under the following creative commons license “Live on WFMU’s Transpacific Sound Paradise 12/12/2009 byPharaoh’s Daughter is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.” Check out the band at www.pharaohsdaughter.com/music.html )

Torah Portion Ki Tavo – Where to stay ?

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This week’s Torah Reading describes an obligation for all Jew’s to the bring first fruits of their produce in the Land of Israel to the Temple at three times in the year.  The picture above is an artist’s impression of what one of the Gates to the Temple (Robinson’s arch) would have looked like. One can well imagine thousands of Jews crowding these steps waiting to present their first fruits. A good question to ask would be; if all the Jews in ancient Israel came here, where would they stay?

Visit the Davidson Centre

A guided tour in the Davidson Archeological Centre would answer this question. At the bottom of the park their are a series of excavations where the remains of massive structures were unearthed. It is thought that these massive structures dating back to the Herodian period were hostels for pilgrims.

Free Room and Board

In the light of certain aspects of Jewish law (See Tosefta Maaser Sheni 1:12) where renting rooms in Jerusalem was forbidden,  it seems possible that there was not only a Hostel for a large number of people, but it  was a a free hostel. There is a source where one Rabbi Elazar ben Zaddok even restricts the rental of linen or beds (see Ahron Horovitz’s book Jerusalem: Footsteps Through Time).

Come and See it for Yourself !

The Jews would come and present the first fruits every Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Succot (Tabernacles). It is still a tradition to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at these times of year. If you want to see some tour ideas click here !

To book your trip click here ! 

Spotlight on Nature: The Camel, The Hare and the Hyrax.

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This little animal is happily perched on one of the scariest cliffs in Israel. (Hyrax in Rosh Haniqra)

This Post is a cunning combination of this weeks Torah Portion (Re’eh) and the Monthly Spotlight on Nature.

‘But this you can’t eat… the Camel, the Hare and the Hyrax’.(Deuteronomy  / Devarim 14:7)

Not a Badger or a Rabbit

A little note (or rant) on my translation and what animals you can actually expect to see in Israel. The King James translation of the Bible renders this the ‘Camel, the hare and the coney’. This is patently ridiculous as ‘Coney’ means a rabbit.

Exciting Nature Fact of the Day: THERE ARE NO WILD RABBITS IN ISRAEL.

The Bible was written for a people intended to live in the land of Israel. The fauna spoken of in the Bible are all animals indigenous to Israel. As there are no naturally occuring wild Rabbits in Israel. Some translations such as the ‘New American’ translate the second animal, in hebrew ‘Arnevet’, as rabbit too. This is equally wrong even though in modern Hebrew a similar word ‘Arnav’ means rabbit and ‘Arnevet’ means lady rabbit.

Exciting Nature Fact of the Day number 2:

THERE ARE NO BADGERS EITHER.

All the translations that call ‘Shaphan’ (the last animal) a badger are clearly mistaken, there are no badgers in Israel at all.

Common Israeli anmals

The first animal mentioned ‘Gamal’ in hebrew is easy to translate and spot, there are, suprisingly enough, quite a lot of camels in this part of the world.

The second animal; ‘Arnevet’, well I have n’t yet seen a hare in Israel, but apparently there are quite a number.

(Oh yes, incidentally the difference between a Rabbit and a Hare is that Hares are non gregarious, they do n’t live in communities and they are larger than Rabbits.)

The third one, ‘Shaphan’, is a hyrax, the little fuzzy beast depicted above. They can be seen all over the place, in the desert in Ein Gedi, in the Galilee and up on the Coast at Rosh Haniqra. Psalm 104 describes them as hiding in rocks, and its pretty much a rule in Israel, anywhere there’s rocks, there’s bound to be a hyrax or two poking around.

(This Word of Torah is dedicted to the Health of Zlata bat Sima)

Torah Portion Ekev: A Land of Light

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Olive Trees, Haas Promenade

Olive Trees, Haas Promenade by YossiTourGuide

Olive trees on the Haas Promenade

“A Land of Wheat, of Barley, Grapes, Figs and Pomegranates, a land of  Olive Oil and honey” (Deuteronomy / Devarim  – 8:8)

This weeks portion of the Torah discusses some of the blessed qualities of the land of Israel.

There is a slight textual difficulty in that it only mentions one product of a fruit; Olives. It does not say a land of ‘Wheat Bread’ or ‘Grape wine’ or ‘Pomegranate slushies’.

What Are Olive Trees Good For ?

So one answer given by Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (10th Century Torah commentator) is to tell us that the Olive trees were used for oil. But is n’t this a bit obvious; we can get 2 things from an olive tree:

1 Olives

2 Olive Oil.

Surely we could say that about all these fruits.

Ah! but all these other fruits have multiple uses: you can have beer or bread, pomegranites, pomegranite slushies or grenadine etc. With olives thats pretty much all you get; olives and oil. Ever heard of Olive wine ? Normally (unless we’re constipated) we do n’t drink Olive Oil. All these other products are edible as well.

Its all Part of the Process

Three of the fruits have a process associated with them. Both wheat and grapes can be fermented to make bread, beer or wine, by extension all of the fruits except for Olives can be fermented but that’s fairly uncommon, people mosly ferment wheat and grapes.

Olives have a special process associated with them. Firstly they are squashed normally releasing a tiny little bit of oil. This first squeezing releases the best oil or ‘Virgin Oil’. Then the pips and skins are gather again, put in baskets and squeezed once more. Since antiquity Olives have undergone this intricate process of squeezing.

This is for collecting the virgin Oil from the first crush, the upper stone is called a memel, the lower stone is called a 'yam.

This is a re -constructed ' beam and weight' press from Tel Hatzor, the baskets of olive bits are squashed by the Kora 'beam'' to collect the lower stage of Olive Oil.

Olives: Not just for Salad Dressing – a symbol of Light

 

Olive oil was the main source of lighting in the Ancient Near East, the purpose of the process mentioned above was light. The product of Olives – oil gets a special mention because of its high value.  My teacher, Rabbi Yitzchak Hirshfeld said that Olives are a symbol of the Jewish people that they are crushed through the travails of history and continue to produce the Light of Truth, the light of the Torah.

 

 

(These words of Torah are dedicated to the speedy recovery of Zlata bat Sima, please include her in your prayers and in the memory of the seven precious souls who were killed today in Southern Israel)

Torah Portion Massei: The Borders of Israel

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“And you will have the corner of the Negev, the Wilderness of Zin by way of Edom, and this will be the border of the Negev to the edge of the Salt Sea to the East. The border shall go around from th South to the Scorpions Ascent and cross over towards Zin and it shall come out at Kadesh Barnea and it will go out at Hatzar Adar and Atzmona. And the border from Atzmona will go to the river of Egypt and it will go out West.  This shall be the Northern border: from the Great Sea and this shall be the Sea (Western) border.  This shall be the Northern border, from the Great Sea it shall turn to Mount Hor, it will come to Hamat and will go out to Zared …” (Numbers / Bamidbar 34: 2- 10)

This is an abridge version of the border of Israel as described in the book of Bamidbar (Numbers).  It is one of the divine descriptions of the Land of Israel (another is from Ezekiel, also shown on the map).

Divine Privilege (?)

Although there are many descriptions of Israel’s size and shape in the Bible they all focus on the idea that the size and shape is dictated by  God. In a post – modern world this seems to be a very backward concept.  We live ina world that despises divinely bequeathed privilege.

Duty

The earlier verse says :

“This is the Land that which fell unto you as an inheritance”

Why does it use the phrase ‘fell’ ?

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (11th century commentator) wrote:

” Being a land wherein many  commandments form its culture  and do not form part of the culture of the rest of the world necessitated the delineation of its borders, meaning to say ‘this is the land and inside it are its commandments”.

The bizzare term ‘fell’ coupled with the extensive description of the land indicates that it is  land where specific duties form its culture.

Moral Purpose

The inheritance here was not merely an inheritance of physicality but an inheritance of a moral purpose bound in the physical ‘clothing’ of land.

 

Torah Portion: Balak

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“And he looked out onto the Yeshimon (wilderness)”

(Bamidbar / Numbers 21:20)

This weeks portion discusses Balaam’s unsuccessful cursing of the Children of Israel at the behest of King Balak. There is a scene where he is looking out onto the wilderness or ‘Yeshimon’ in hebrew.

The Bible mentions 4 types of arid terrain which are many times confused under the same heading ‘desert’, these are:

Midbar

Negev

Arava

Yeshimon

A Midbar, IS NOT a real desert. In hebrew, words have root letters the root letters connected to other words with the same root letters.. The family of root letters ‘d’ ‘b’ ‘r’ are to do with grazing or raising flocks. In a few places; in the book of Micah and Isaiah, the word ‘Dover’is used, meaning to graze cattle. Midbar is an a arid terrain which cannot sustain crops but can sustain flocks for part of the year. The picture above is Wadi Kelt in Midbar Yehuda; the Judean (for want of a better word) desert.

Negev means both South and desert its root letters are associated with being dry, Naguv means dried up. Negev is true desert, the area south of Beer Sheva is all desert.

Arava, means East and also is to do with mixing things. An Eruv is a mixture of things. The Arava area is a valley in the south of the Country which has a subterranean water supply. It is also a ‘mixture’ in terms of being the place where the red mountains of Moab (modern day Jordan) meet the land of Israel.

Yeshimon is just a waste. Its root letters ‘sh’ and ‘m’ appear in the word ‘shamam’ meaning waste. In fact it is used in the first usage of the phrase ‘howling waste’ in Deuteronomy 32:10. In our portion in represents what Balak and Balam wished to find; a wasted nation devoid of hope and purpose, instead they found a great nation and were forced to bless them.